I agree, Selinz. It seems there is no way of knowing how long the rolling blackouts are going to last at this point. What could be quick solutions to recover power for the electronics companies, I wonder?

What's the danger of the contamination getting into the packaging resin? Clean rooms also need clean air and water. How will this affect IC production?
The drinking water in Toyko is unsafe for children. What's the affect on GDP of having to abandon the northeast areas like Ukraine after Chernobyl?
Are we looking at this situation with rose colored glasses? The Japanese seem to be incapable of bringing the reactors under control. This looks more and more like Chernobyl in slow motion.
Praying for the best.

It looks like they are virtually operating blind. The radioactivity of the surrounding water needs to be monitored continuously by nearby nations.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/east-pacific/Japan-Warns-Residents-Against-Returning-to-Nuclear-Zone-118758949.html

In today's newspaper, in India ( Specifically the local newspaper in Pune) there is indeed a news report which says that Japan has issued a MAXIMUM DANGER alert, as the some plutonium is found in the ground near Fukushima Reactor. It is likely that the 20km area surrounding this plant may need to be evacuated. The situation looks to be really grim there and much worse than the earthquake itself or associated Tsunami. The radiation effects will be long term and long range with contamination spreading through air & water.

In today's morning news here in India the headline is about the situation in Fukushima plant getting worsened further. The authorities are guessing that 70% of fuel rods at No.1 and 33% at No.2 reactor could be damaged. The European Union's energy chief Guenther Oettinger warned of catastrophic events within a matter of hours.
Hope the brave engineers risking their life at the plant can bring it back to a controllable state. But the fear is that the short term and long term effect of this incident might look worse.

I have seen other media reports about the effect on the world's GDP due to the effect of these disasters. The headline always sounds ominous -- "worldwide GDP to drop to 3.4 percent" -- without putting it into context.
Japan is 7.5% of worldwide GDP and is expected to fall 1-3% as a result of this. Multiply those numbers and discover that worldwide GDP will only be affected by a tenth of a percent or two.
The Japanese economy will suffer a significant blow this year, but to the world economy, it's more like a speed bump. Try to keep the perspective on who is truly impacted by this crisis vs those who are merely inconvenienced.